Miners win 5th straight, 6-2 versus Shasta

REDDING, Calif. - The Yreka Miners varsity baseball team is playing inspired ball at the perfect time.

Yreka won it's fifth straight game by downing Division 1 Northern Section team Shasta on the road in Redding 6-2 on Wednesday.

Junior pitcher Tevin Cadola had a perfect game going until the fifth inning. With two outs, Cadola finally gave up a hit.

"He pitched the best game of his varsity career," head coach Jason Freitas said. Freitas was impressed with the way all his pitches were working at a high level, especially his curveball.

"He had such good command of it," Freitas said. "He had everything going for him."

Cadola retired 14 straight batters before he gave up a hit in the fifth. In the sixth inning, Shasta scored two runs. In the seventh inning junior Kurt Bennett came in in relief of Cadola. With the second batter he faced, Bennett forced them to groundout as the Miners earned a 6-4-3 double play and got the final out a short time late to earn the victory.

"It was a big one for us," Freitas said about the victory. While Yreka downed Shasta at home last Wednesday 10-9, Freitas said this win may have been even bigger because they won in dominating fashion against a quality opponent on their home field.

Yreka also had quite the strong hitting performance, earning 10 hits compared to two for Shasta. And, Freitas said, the bottom of the lineup hit the ball well.

"When the bottom of the lineup is hitting well, good things happen," he said.

Before the winning streak the Miners had been struggling with consistency, especially on defense. Now, Freitas said, he likes the way his team is playing as they look to earn a good seed in the playoffs. Last season the Miners made it to the Northern Section Division 2 title game.

Cadola earned the win and had six strikeouts.Christian Charles went 2-for-3 with two runs. Dustin Jochim went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Matt Jespersen finished 2-for-3, including earning a two-run single with two outs in the sixth inning. Andy Andreas had a run and a double while Cody Hoff had a double, a run and an RBI. Yreka scored two runs in the second, three in the sixth and one in the seventh..

Yreka is now 13-12 -2 overall. Shasta fell to 12-12. On Friday, the Miners host Eagle Point of Oregon at home starting at 5:30 p.m.

Also on Wednesday the Miners junior squad downed Shasta 13-3 in Redding to improve to 19-1 for the season. On Friday the JV squad hosts Eagle Point starting at 4 p.m. at the JV field at Yreka High School.